Over the last year, I’ve been writing a book on employer branding and social media.

Today, I’m pleased to announce that the book is done. It’s called Culture Convo, and it launches on September 6.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a bunch of freebies – chapter excerpts, podcasts and free tools. If you want to get your hands on that stuff before I release it on Renegade HR, you can sign-up for the Culture Convo email list.

Click Here to Sign-Up for the Email List

What’s the Book About?

Culture Convo is a beginner’s guide to employer branding with social media.

Keep reading…

Stop being little Facebook Stalkers and get back to the real work of HR. Solve problems. Help managers be good managers. Then get out of the way. Being an HR Voyeur is just so icky.

- Frank Roche, iFractal

Frank Roche over at Know HR has been on fire the last few weeks.

One of my recent favorites: Facebook is none of HR’s business.

If this blog isn’t already one of your “must reads,” make it one today!

Image by Erik K Veland

What value do dress codes add to a business?

I get why rules like “no open toes” exist in manufacturing facilities. I also get why sales folks need to dress to meet the expectations of their clients. But I don’t get why web coders and finance pros and marketers and, yes, HR peeps, have to wear dress pants, ties, and suit jackets.

They don’t improve productivity. I’d argue that in many cases they hurt it. Uniforms, done right, can unite teams and energize them.

The way “uniforms” are done in the corporate world, though… it just sucks the life out of people.

So what’s the deal. Why do we need dress codes?

Image by jessicafm

My wife and I went to the beach this weekend.

On our way back to the car, we stopped at this ice cream place that had Bliss Dairy ice cream. If you’re not from the MA area, Bliss makes incredible ice cream.

While we were waiting in line, I noticed that the people in front of us never said “please” when ordering.

“I’ll have mint-chocolate chip. Do you have whipped cream? Add a cherry, too.”

If you want to build an organization with a great culture, pay attention to how candidates treat the person in your reception area. The way people treat service employees says a lot.

The dudes over at ERE.net have put together a spinoff site called TLNT.com. It’s basically ERE, but with a focus on the performance management side of the business instead of on recruiting.

It’s awesome. My good blogger buddy Lance Haun is one of the writers there. Definitely check it out.

Here are two of my recent favorites from the site:

• A Persuasive Argument for Getting Rid of Employee Performance Appraisals
• Three Days for Death (or Why HR Policies Make No Sense)

My only gripe with TLNT? They post a lot. Like, several times a day. My RSS reader is bursting at the seams!

Today’s article is a guest post from self-described HR Assistant and wanna-be blogger Stephanie Andrews. She’s new to the HR blog thing and still trying to find her voice. Help her out and give her some feedback in the comments section.

Image by Thomas Hawk

We see them all the time: Professional development opportunities, training seminars, and certifications for Meyers-Briggs, Personality Dimension Facilitation, or Fluffy Bunny Petting for Performance Reviews.

Now, I’m not disputing that these resources aren’t interesting, intriguing, and sometimes useful, but I can’t help but wonder once you’ve left the seminar/training session/intergalactic space module: Where’s the real world application?

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Image by Nina Matthews Photography

Much ado has been made recently about HR’s failure in the way the USDA handled an employee relations situation involving Shirley Sherrod.

If you’re not familiar with the case yet, here’s a great run-down from Frank Roche at Know HR.

Let’s say you’re in human resources at the USDA. And by hook or by crook you end up hearing a sound bite from a speech that one of your most senior employees gave in March, in which, if you only listened to the few seconds of the clip, make it appear that she discriminated against a farmer because of his race.

What do you do?

1. Recommend that she be fired immediately without reviewing all the facts?
2. Talk to her and ask her about the totality of her comments?
3. Wilt like a pansy in the Georgia heat because some questionable media types said you should fire her? So you do?

Shirley Sherrod got fired. Then, when the facts became clear, she got an apology. Sorta kinda.

(Click here to read Frank’s whole post.)

So the HR interwebz is blowing up around the case, talking about how HR pros at the USDA should have been more involved and that they failed massively.

HR’s point of failure, though, happened long before this case.

Keep reading…